DEFENCE
and moved on. Israel monitors all UN radio
traffic in the enclave; artillery fire usually fol
lows any sighting and, since the information is
"secondhand", it is not always accurate. An
other incident involved the Fijian Battalion,
which was unable to secure a landing for us in a
remote area of the mountains near the coast.
Later that morning, Israeli 155mm artillery
pounded both positions.
I did not discover why we had skirted the
Fijian temporary base. It was not a UN camp
like the others; it was rather an open stretch of
field, dominated on one side by a big stone dou-
ble-storeyed building which overlooked one of
die valleys and (I was able to ascertain later) a
strategic wadi used regularly by Hizbollah for
infiltrating southwards. We circled half a dozen
times and could clearly see the Fijians deployed
around the perimeter.
The unit's commander, Lt Col Guaccio Aldo,
confirmed that, while his helicopters are not
fired upon often, accidents happen. He cited an
incident a few montJis before, when Israeli gun
ners fired on a Norwegian patrol in the Litani
valley in die east, wounding tliree men. They
had been mistaken for Hizbollah, says Aldo.
"These days, we tell everyone who wants to
listen exactly what we are doing. We clear it widi
all parties first. Then we fly directly to our
objective, do what we have to .do and get right
back here. Certainly we don't hang about in die
air in soutii Lebanon", says Aldo emphatically.
He says diat among his unit's priorities, die
main one is to keep open as many fines of com
munication as possible in one of the most
volatile regions on die globe.
"Obviously, die mail forms part of that, and
supplying remote or isolated observation posts
in die interior, when only a helicopter can reach
diem," Aldo says. Part of die Heliwing role is
also to ferry VIPs around, but on tliat he is not
prepared to comment.
The biggest problem his unit faces, at a base
which abuts almost direcdy on to the sea, is the
need to wash engine compressors daily. "We
have a serious problem here widi saturated salty
air getting into die turbines. If we don't attend
to it regularly, we all know what can happen," he
comments.
CONTINUING HOSTILITIES
According to Timur Goskel, spokesman for die
4,500-man United Nations Interim Force in
Lebanon (UNIFIL), whose insignia is a large
crest which incorporates a Bell 205 as part of die
motif, widi die words "Flying For Peace" at its
base for die past 15 years, everyone is affected by
die impasse created by continuing hostilities in
die region. "You only need to look at die statis
tics," says diis tough-talking Turk who was widi
die Turkish army before he was posted to the
UN. In almost 18 years, he says, die UN contin
gent has lost more dian 220 men: only about
40% of diose deadis were non-military, caused
by illness, road or odier accidents, etc. "Contacts
do not happen very often, but, when diey do,
This wadi situated in southern Lebanon is known
as "Hizbollah Highway"
Take-off on an operation from Naqoura, the UN
headquarters in the eastern Mediterranean
they can be severe," he adds. The Fijians, large
ly because of dieir uncompromising, no-non
sense, approach to peacekeeping operations,
have suffered die most casualties. Some, like die
Ghanaians whose role, many feel, is purely sym
bolic, and the Irish, never place their forces in
any kind of compromising position and, as a
result, hardly ever came under fire.
At die same time, it was an Irish soldier,
together widi Goskel's deputy, Mike Lindvall, a
Swede, who was responsible for taking food to
beleaguered civilian communities cut off by die
fighting during Operation Grapes of Wrath in
1996. The two men went by road into areas
under Israeli fire, and spent days in exposed
positions. The Heliwing was unable to help.
Of die six nations which have troops
deployed in south Lebanon — Fiji, Finland,
Ghana, Ireland, Nepal and Norway—only the
first two patrol actively at night in a bid to stop
Hizbollah incursions.
According to Goskel, die UN has standard
routines for all emergencies. Clearances given,
however, do not filter dirough to some
Hizbollah crews who might be in an area to
which die Heliwing needs to go. "It's fine in die
day. Then everyone can see who is flying—but,
at one o'clock in die morning, it's something
else. A UN soldier might have been hurt in a
landmine blast. Or caught in a cross-fire. Then
what?" he asks.
The situation is further exacerbated by a lack
of communications with die other major Arab
faction in soudi Lebanon, die Soudi Lebanese
army (SLA), an Israeli surrogate force. While
die UN tends to minimise die role of die 3,000-
man SLA which is led, in part, by Israeli officers,
most UN operational battalions impinge on
areas dominated by die SLA. The Heliwing has
to fly over diem constantly. More than one
observer has questioned die ignoring of one of
die major participants in a steadily escalating
military campaign where casualty figures can be
measured in hundreds.
There have been incidents involving the
Italians with UNIFIL. For example, a Hiz
bollah maritime-strike force tried to run the
Israeli naval blockade out of Tyre, about 30min
drive to die nordi of Naqoura. Around a dozen
guerrillas in two high-speed rubber boats head
ed for Natanya in northern Israel, after dark,
hugging the coast. They were spotted by an
Israeli patrol craft and a chase began. After one
of die insurgent boats was hit, the odier put in to
shore, just short of die Israeli border at Rosh
Haniqra. The guerrillas took hostages, includ
ing an Italian airman with the Heliwing. The
man was killed shortly afterwards in an
exchange of fire widi die Israeli pursuers.
Few of diose involved are prepared to com
ment on die dangers inherent with the work.
"It's hazardous, yes," says one pilot, who adds:
"But it is always interesting." •
FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 8 - 14 January 1997 33